In this paper we outline a program of reform of the Argentine university, oriented by the guideline of decentralizing it as a parallel to the deep restructuring of the welfare state in the eighties. The program is based on a deregulation of factor markets in education and the use of the price system for adjusting supply and demand. We take into account the effects of higher education on human capital growth as well as on distribution. In this sense, the program considers an active role of the state, but differing strongly from the existing one. The proposed program would permit to reach more effectively efficiency and redistribution than the actual, socialistic one.